A key challenge was to establish
parameters for exploring a conflict, the very nature of which is it-self
contested.

For some it was seen as a terrorist campaign waged by the IRA
against the forces of law and order

For others a conflict between two warring tribes with the forces of law and
order caught in the middle

And for yet others a guerrilla war waged by the IRA against the presence of
Britain as malign occupying power

In addition the violence has entrenched these perspectives,
increased community polarisation and to varying degrees left individuals and
communities locked into perspectives formed, or deepened, in conflict.